International & United Nations Gun Control
NRA has been engaged at the United Nations and elsewhere internationally in response to overreaching small arms initiatives for two decades. During this time, we have been actively opposing transnational efforts that would limit Americans’ Second Amendment freedoms. NRA has been a recognized Non-Governmental Organization at the United Nations since 1996. Our status as an NGO allows us to closely monitor the internal UN debate over firearm issues and report back to our members.
The most pressing international threat to U.S. gun owners is the UN Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). Among its most egregious provisions, the treaty encourages national recordkeeping requirements for “end users” of covered arms (including firearms), and suggests that national governments share such records. Further, the ATT compels countries to make arms import and export decisions based upon a trading partner’s willingness to abide by the treaty’s requirements, which could isolate the United States from legitimate trade in arms or force it to adopt restrictions detrimental to Second Amendment rights. During the drafting phase, NRA vigorously advocated for civilian firearm ownership be removed from the treaty’s scope. Those recommendations were ignored, meaning U.S. firearms policy could become the rest of the world’s business and subject to its approval, on pain of trade restrictions if it doesn’t meet “international norms.”
Secretary of State John Kerry signed the ATT on behalf of the U.S. on September 25, 2013. NRA continues to work with its Senate allies to prevent ratification or implementation of the treaty in the U.S.
Friday, July 1, 2016
Canada is joining a global treaty aimed at regulating the arms trade, but the federal government still will ...
Thursday, June 16, 2016
The more time you spend at the U.N., the more its activities fall into a pattern. There are ...
Friday, May 27, 2016
On Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee approved the fiscal year 2017 Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations bill. The bill funds the ...
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
When American Tom Heberlein tried to import his firearms to Sweden, he got as far as his transfer ...
Thursday, April 21, 2016
A new gun-rights law enacted in Tennessee prohibits the state from enforcing any limits on firearms imposed by ...
Friday, March 25, 2016
It is often pointed out that UK government officials treat George Orwell’s “1984” less like the dire warning ...
Friday, March 18, 2016
Since we last updated readers to the European Union’s efforts to enact further gun controls, the transnational government has continued ...
Tuesday, March 8, 2016
Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm says he expects an import ban on a controversial rapid-fire shotgun, imposed in ...
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
Gun debate in Britain tends to focus on what is happening in the US, but more than 700,000 ...
Friday, February 19, 2016
On Tuesday, heavy metal rock group Eagles of Death Metal made a triumphant return to Paris. The American ...